Ultra Magnus (Prime; Voyager) [2012 Robots in Disguise]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Milky blue, moderately light milky gray, transparent blue, and some light red, black, white, light sky blue, and silver
Rating: 8.2

    Given that he got two toys that ended up being effectively "redacted" from the line once he showed up in the Prime show with a modified version of the Optimus Prime design, Ultra Magnus definitely seems to have been initially planned to enter the show sooner than he did. Regardless, this version of him follows the 2012 Commander's form, with his vehicle mode being a heavy truck. The proportions in this mode are generally quite on-point, with a flat front and a lower back end. However, although his robot extras aren't as obvious as his on Commander class toy, they still stick out fairly obviously. His waist and upper legs clearly form the top back end of the rear two-thirds or so of this mode, and a rather sizeable gap can be seen lengthwise in between the two halves of his back third, which quite obviously form his robot legs, with the toes evem sticking up at the rear end (and the heels sticking out a bit BELOW the rear end, as well). Nothing of note in regards to robot mode bits can be seen inside his transparent blue windows, though, so that's always good. Ultra Magnus' color scheme stays more-or-less like it's usually been, with the main color being a rather milky, medium shade of blue, with a fair amount of milky gray plastic used as a neutral color for it to contrast against (as opposed to his usual white, which I think would've looked a little better). I'm never been a fan of milky grays that are towards the lighter end of the scale-- they always look quite boring to me, and should be more metallic-esque if they're being used on a TF toy-- but this gray isn't really light (and thus distractingly off and boring), so at least there's that. Some silver paint apps on Magnus' front bumper and sides help add to this general area of the color scheme, but what helps make his color scheme catch the eye in this mode are the light red paint apps on his roof and the stripes along his sides, which really help create some more contrast and visual interest. (He's also got black tires, to give him a truly dark color.) It's a fairly decent color scheme overall, though I liked the darker, more metallic shade of blue used for Magnus' earlier Commander class toy. Magnus' mold detailing is roughly par-for-the-course in terms of Prime toys-- in fitting with the aesthetic, he's got several parts that have fairly minimal detailing (such as the sides of this mode), with a few spots with more intricate detailing, such as his front end and the upper sides of the back third or so of this mode, complete with little rivets and the like molded in. This said, Ultra Magnus DESPERATELY needs some paint on the rear "bed" of this mode to bring out some of his details-- he's almost entirely blue there, with just a tad black and gray, and thus looks rather boring back there. For weapons, first Magnus has a missile-like accessory (it doesn't fire), which can store on one of four different 5mm ports-- 2 on each side-- and one on the top, on his red roof. (The missile also has a 5 mm port on it as well, if you want to "stack" more weapons on top of it.) Two additional pieces can fold up from his back half to hold 5mm compatible weapons, and the angle has it so they aren't aiming right at the back of Magnus' truck body, which is always a good thing. Magnus' main "Powerizer" weapon, however, is a railgun-like weapon with a rather odd-looking chunk of blue plastic coming off the middle of it. This weapon has four 5mm pegs-- one on each side, one on the front, and one of the bottom, so he's got some good storage options, here. By sliding the top section back, the weapon converts into a hammer, similar in style to the one Animated Ultra Magnus used-- and when it does so, a green LED light comes on behind the hammer head, lighting up at least the front of the translucent head a bit (though the sides remain transparent blue). The best part, though, is that there's actually a flip-out connecting piece that you can use to keep the weapon in this mode until you want to convert it back! Granted, the LED light stays on the whole time it's in hammer mode, but THIS is what Powerizer weapons should have been in the beginning-- finally, Magnus can actually USE his Powerizer weapon in its deployed form!
    Ultra Magnus' transformation is pretty simple for a Voyager, almost entirely consisting of just straighting out and separating his legs, unfolding out the arms from the sides, and then rotating a few bits on his lower arms to make them look more solid. In robot mode, Magnus looks quite good, with one notable exception-- the windows and roof section on his back are square and thus don't fit in with their surrounding pieces in terms of a silouhette at all. This back section also doesn't tab in anywhere solidly, which increases the annoying-ness factor of it a bit. Ultra Magnus' shoulders also also a tad wonky-- I do love how the sections of his vehicle bumper rotate forward to give his shoulders the impression of being large, but it's only a "shell" of a front, and not convincing at most angles. In most angles, you can see just the "bare bones" shoulder ball joints, which again doesn't look right on Magnus. (I do like the "missile pods" sticking up out of his shoulders, though, given that this is one of the character's main design elements.) However, otherwise his proportions are fantastic, giving him a rather heroic stance that looks powerful without being overly beefy. The way the sides of his vehicle mode fold around to give him very solid-looking arms from any angle is impressive, and his legs partially make up for their poor disguise in vehicle mode by just generally being solid, well-proportioned apppendages, here. The mold detailing on Ultra Magnus' robot parts is quite good and in keeping with the Prime theme of multiple overlapping panels-- his chest looks particularly nice with the white, silver, and red paint detailing, and there's a bit of visible silver paint on his legs as well, giving him a bit more color variation down there. Magnus' face sculpt is also spot-on, mixing G1 Magnus' head with a more angular, nose-less Prime design and a stern, no-nonsense look on his face that fits the character to a tee. For articulation, Ultra Magnus can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), wrist and waist rotation, and movement at the hips (at two points) and knees. His feet could've stood to move around a bit, but otherwise he's got some pretty solid articulation-- and he's well-balanced, so he can pull off some pretty nice poses. Like with the other 2012 Prime "Robots in Disguise" toys, Ultra Magnus' Powerizer weapon's LED light can be mounted on his back, and when activated is supposed to shine through the translucent plastic on either his chest or lower arms (depending on where it's being held) to light them up green. However, as is the case with nearly all toys in this line with this gimmick, it really doesn't work at all, and is best ignored. Ultra Magnus' 5mm ports are on his shoulders, back, and sides of his lower arms in this mode, as well as his hands being able to hold these weapons, as well.
    Prime "Robots in Disguise" Powerizer Ultra Magnus is the go-to version of the character if you want a Prime-verse representation of the character that isn't an Optimus remold, what with his great articulation and proportions in robot mode, great detailing, and one of the best (if not THE best) Powerizer weapons out there, that can actually lock into either of its two modes. That said, he still definitely has some robot kibble problems on the back half of his vehicle mode, his roof section sticks out from behind his back in robot mode, and his shoulders are a bit wonky. Although this version's color scheme isn't bad, I prefer the Commander class version of this design in terms of color scheme. Still, overall, mildly recommended.



Ultra Magnus Bio:
If there is any Autobot the Decepticons fear as much as Optimus Prime, it is Ultra Magnus. His battle hammer has crushed chassis from one side of the galaxy to the other. No battlefield on which his armored feet have stepped has ever been yielded to the Decepticons.
Strength: 10.0
Intelligence: 8.0
Speed: 5.0
Endurance: 9.0
Rank: 9.0
Courage: 10.0
Fireblast: 9.0
Skill: 6.0

Review by Beastbot

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